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Telepresence (News - Alert) provides "being there" video so detailed and real, capturing all the vital visual nuances in interpersonal communications that make it a strong substitute for travel that you can imagine smelling the others' aftershave or cologne.

Many executives who had been planning to fly to Europe but now are stranded with flight cancellations resulting from the volcano eruption in Iceland, no doubt wished they had telepresence systems included on their desktops.

Yet for too long telepresence systems, including for desktops, have been pricey and difficult to use. C-level executives are watching their pennies too. More importantly they haven't got the time or the patience to fiddle with highly technical instruments.

Vidyo is now making executive desktop telepresence finally feasible with an easy-to-use touch screen form factor, for the price of a computer. The VidyoDesktop Executive, selected as Best of Interop Finalist in the Collaboration category, offers a full 1080p HD experience, and will be demonstrated at Vidyo's (News - Alert) Booth #2207 at Interop in Las Vegas, from April 27 - 29, 2010.

Vidyo's new executive desktop application leverages low cost, off-the-shelf, all-in-one touch screen computers running VidyoDesktop 2.0 software at one-tenth it says the cost of the leading executive desktop video conferencing appliance. The new solution highlights the value and innovation of the VidyoConferencingproduct line, which is entirely built upon standard x86-based platforms, thereby benefitting from the cost and performance curves of the high volume computer industry.

Complementing Vidyo's full line of HD room systems, the VidyoDesktop runs on Mac and Windows- based laptop and desktop endpoints. With its customized VidyoDesktop configuration, the VidyoDesktop Executive leverages existing designs offered by a new breed of "all-in-one" computers. They can be a dedicated VidyoConferencing device, or serve as a multi-purpose executive desktop conferencing endpoint that is also a productive personal computer. Now, with a single device, executives can both maintain a high level of productivity on their PCs and have personal telepresence at their finger tips with the most intuitive and easy-to-use interface.

The new user interface of the VidyoPortal 2.0 was designed with touch screens in mind; it enables a user to join a multi-party Vidyo conference by simply touching the screen. Using VidyoDesktop Executive's built-in application-sharing feature, simple applications like MS Paint can be used quickly and easily to communicate graphical ideas with a finger, drawing directly on the screen, allowing other conference participants to see the whiteboard in real-time.

"Video conferencing should be as accessible and spontaneous as any other form of business communications," said Ofer Shapiro (News - Alert), Vidyo CEO and co-founder. "One of the most often heard complaints about videoconferencing is that, despite all of the new products, it's still too difficult to use. The simplicity and intuitive design of the VidyoPortal graphical user interface on a multi-purpose touch screen computer finally puts telepresence-quality video communications at an executive's fingertips.

"The launch of VidyoDesktop Executive marks the convergence of high-end telepresence devices with mainstream computing hardware. Now telepresence integrates with workflow - easily-accessible and reliable from wherever the user happens to be over whatever broadband network is most readily available. Our VidyoDesktop Executive is so intuitive that even an executive can join video conferences without IT support."